Thanks for including the picture of Grant. Saved me from having to guess the full list of indistinguishable presidents between Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt for that question.
To be fair to Wilson, circumstances had changed between the time of his promise and the time of his reneging on his promise, with the sending of the Zimmerman telegram.
I mostly agree with you, and I think Wilson has been judged too harshly by history for his decision to enter the war, but I also think you're (ever so slightly) overstating the importance of the Zimmerman telegram. The telegram did change popular opinion a lot, but it seems a little too convenient that Wilson's opinion on war turned on a dime. Before the telegram, he publicly opposed war, and I suspect he remained opposed in private even after entering the war. The Democratic Party built its 1916 presidential campaign around the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War", suggesting that Wilson wanted to remain neutral until right up to the Zimmerman telegram. Forgive me if I haven't done my research, but this all looks like Wilson was reluctant to enter even after the telegram, and I think historians are mostly right to criticize him for ignoring his own apprehensions and giving in to popular opinion.
It was apparent from the beginning that if the US would join they would join the British, given that Britain and France were democratic countries. It also gave him the ability to push his agenda of self-determination and dissolve the absolutist German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires
The US was already supporting the UK and France with loans and materiel, so was never really going to join the other side. The war had been going for 3 years and the Germans were on the back foot, so the US involvement accelerated their defeat (and it helps to be on the winning side). Direct involvement gave Wilson some say in how Europe was reshaped and in the formation of the League of Nations...the US went from a fairly insular, isolationist nation to one that recognised its potential for political, economic and military influence in the decades to come
I was really scratching my head after reading "Spanish-American War" as "Mexican-American War", I guessed all the presidents between Van Buren and Lincoln, and then was really confused, might want to pay more attention in the future!
Heh, same here. I typed all those guys' names, I was like "I know for sure one of these dudes was president 1848!", yet none of them worked. For a moment I was like "This quiz is jacked up!"... but then it hit me that it said "Spanish", not "Mexican", LOL.
Same, except I didn't read it wrong. For example, with the Iran thing, I was like "this has to be recent!" and guessed all the recent presidents. Same with some other ones too. Good quiz overall though
Poor Herbert Hoover, from Iowa orphan to extremely successful mining engineer to savior of starving Europe/Russia. And all 99% of Americans will know him for is "the guy who was president when the Depression started."
Another Johnson answer would baffle a few too.